Developed by Anthony Atala and his team at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the mini-organs represent the first step in developing an entire human body on a chip.

The hearts were created by reprogramming human skin cells into heart cells, which were then clumped together in a cell culture. A 3D printer was then used to give them the desired shape and size – in this case, a diameter of 0.25 millimetres.

The scaled-down organs are being developed to mimic the function of their life-size counterparts. Eventually, they could be linked up to form an entire organ system that could be used to test new treatments or probe the effects of chemicals and viruses.

The approach is being developed as an alternative to animal testing, which is costly and doesn’t always produce results that are applicable to humans.

Source: Www.newscientist.com

Mark Deadrick, president of 3dyn, saw TurboRoo’s call for wheels on the Internet and designed a small wheeled cart, estimating the size from online photos. He printed the model in bright orange, slapped on some Rollerblade wheels, and sent the cart to TurboRoo’s owner. Now the wee doggie is scooting along on a free, fully hackable set of super-legs.

Why is this cool? Because, before 3D printing, TurboRoo’s owners would have had to build something out of ready-made pipes, cloth, and other materials at great cost. Now, however, the cart can be custom-fit to TR’s body, reprinted at will, and even modified by other designers. Best of all, they can make multiple carts for almost nothing and in almost no time.

This isn’t the first time 3D printing has made animals’ – and peoples’ – lives better. I’m reminded first of the robotic hands that are now helping handicapped kids grasp objects. On the Metazoan front, designers built a cute leg for a duck in January and there are currently penguins and other fowl with 3D-printed beaks. But there’s nothing quite like seeing a little dog scoot to warm the heating elements of my heart.

Hat tip to DowntownPetVet for helping little Roo!

via 3DPrint

Source: Techcrunch.com

The Osteoid, created by Turkish student Deniz Karasahin, incorporates 3D printing and ultrasonic tech to make healing a broken bone more bearable.

The idea of ultrasonic healing vibrations to heal bones (and other wounds) has been around for a while. But the problem was doctors couldn’t get past the plaster cast to apply the vibrational therapy.

Take a look at the pic below and you’ll see the Osteoid’s skeletal design allows ultrasonic drivers to be placed directly on the skin.

The Osteoid is just a prototype at the moment. However, future production will enable each individual to have a custom-fitted cast.

Combine this cast with the accompanying low-intensity, pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) bone stimulator system (shown above) and, according to Karasahin:

For single 20 minute daily sessions this system promises to reduce the healing process up to 38% and increase the heal rate up to 80% in non-union fractures.

The only downside is you won’t be able to get your friends to sign it anymore.

Source: Techcrunch.com

“Imagine being able to walk into a hospital and have a full organ printed – or bio-printed, as we call it – with all the cells, proteins and blood vessels in the right place, simply by pushing the ‘print’ button in your computer screen,” said Dr. Luiz Bertassoni of the University of Sydney. “While recreating little parts of tissues in the lab is something that we have already been able to do, the possibility of printing three-dimensional tissues with functional blood capillaries in the blink of an eye is a game changer.”

The vessels are then used to move nutrients through bioprinted tissues, allowing for better cell differentiation and growth.

This technique will allow researchers to build “organs” in the lab by growing cells on the network of capillaries. The researchers believe this will eventually lead to true organ regeneration, which sounds amazing.

Source: Techcrunch.com

Les menaces 3D

En tête des tendances lourdes et/ou menaçantes pour une certaine industrie, l’impression 3D. "En 2018, l’impression 3D aura provoqué cent milliards de perte en revenus de propriété intellectuelle au niveau mondial." Selon le cabinet Gartner, le prix en chute libre des imprimantes 3D va provoquer un clash inévitable avec au moins un constructeur de tech occidental et les fabricants et industriels pourraient connaitre ce qu’a connu la musique, de la part non pas de geeks ingénieux souhaitant reproduire chez eux quelques objets ou puces grâce aux plans trouvés sur Internet, mais de concurrents et fabricants impatients et tout à fait prêts à piller et reproduire leurs créations. 

Autre prédiction : dès la fin de 2015, les autorités sanitaires ici et là devront publier des réglementations sur l’impression 3D de tissus humains avant son développement anarchique. Le Bioprinting (impression biologique) est la branche médicale de l’impression  3D, dont on pense qu’elle pourra produire des tissus et organes un jour lointain.

Source: Www.atlantico.fr

The following studies and projects represent some of the most fascinating examples of "bioprinting," or using a computer-controlled machine to assemble biological matter using organic inks and super-tough thermoplastics. They range from reconstructing major sections of skull to printing scaffolding upon which stem cells can grow into new bones.

Skulls

Osteofab is a product made by a British company called Oxford Performance Materials. OPM got into the business by selling a high-performance polymer often used in medical implants—a thermoplastic called polyetherketoneketone—in raw form. But over the past few years, the company has also pioneered the application of the stuff, primarily through additive manufacturing. In February, an American patient received an FDA-approved skull patch made of the material, which had been carefully molded and printed to fit 75 percent of his unique skull geometry. [Osteofab]

Skin

A big problem with the idea of "printing" new skin is how difficult it is to recreate a particular skin tone in every kind of light: Because our skin is so unique, thin, and mutable, it’s hard to perfect an exact replica. There are too many interesting studies to discuss in a short paragraph, but two highlights: Wake Forest scientist James Yoo is working on machine that can actually print skin directly onto burn victims as part of a DoD-funded grant, while scientists at University of Liverpool are using carefully-calibrated 3D scanners they’re using to capture samples of each subject’s existing skin, which allows them to print a more accurate patch.

The research is ongoing, but the team plans to create a "skin database" of the captured samples, which could be tapped into from remote hospitals without the cameras needed to capture a subject’s own skin. [Gizmodo; PhysOrg]

Noses and Ears

Creating prosthetic ears, noses, and chins are often a painful, expensive, and laborious experience for patient and doctor both. A UK industrial designer named Tom Fripp has spent the past few years collaborating with University of Sheffield scientists to 3D print a cheaper, easier-to-make facial prosthetic. Their process involves 3D scanning a patient’s face (much less invasive than casting it), modeling a replacement part, and printing it using pigment, starch, and medical grade silicone.

An added bonus: When the prosthetic wears out (inevitably, they do), the part can be cheaply re-printed. [The Guardian]

Eyes

Last week, Fripp and the team at Sheffield unveiled the results of testing the same process—on eyes. Prosthetic eyes are expensive to make, since they’re hand-painted, and can often take months to complete. Fripp’s printer can turn out 150 eyes an hour—and the details, like iris color, size, and blood vessels, can be easily customized based on each patient’s needs. [PhysOrg]

Medical Implants

As electronic devices—from drones to medical implants—get smaller, scientists have struggled to manufacture batteries small enough to power them. But a team of Harvard engineers is 3D printing microscopic batteries that are as small as a piece of sand. The team explains:

… the researchers created an ink for the anode with nanoparticles of one lithium metal oxide compound, and an ink for the cathode from nanoparticles of another. The printer deposited the inks onto the teeth of two gold combs, creating a tightly interlaced stack of anodes and cathodes. Then the researchers packaged the electrodes into a tiny container and filled it with an electrolyte solution to complete the battery.

They could eventually power medical implants—like these ones—that are being held up by power issues. [Harvard]

Bones

3D-printed implants—like jawbones—have been around for several years. But a handful of researchers are experimenting with printing actual replacement bones. For example, a University of Nottingham scientist named Kevin Shakeshaff has developed a bioprinter that creates a scaffold of polylactic acid and gelatinous alginate—which is then coated in adult stem cells. According to Forbes, the scaffolding will dissolve and be replaced by new bone growth within roughly three months. [Forbes]

Blood Vessels and Cells

We may be able to print organs, but part of the problem with these manufactured tissue is creating a functioning circulatory system to go with it. Günter Tovar, a German scientist who heads up the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, is leading a project called BioRap that’s developing 3D-printed blood vessels using a mix of synthetic polymers and biomolecules. These printed systems are being tested in animals—they aren’t yet ready for humans—but they could eventually enable printed organ transplants. [Fraunhofer Institute]

Source: Gizmodo.com